Love is a Battlefield
by Dukefan1982
Summary: My Bonesology secret valentine's fic for DGSchneider.


A/N: This is my Bonesology secret valentine's fic for DGSchneider. She wanted Booth and Brennan on a romantic getaway with a thoughtful gift and a touch of jealousy.

Brennan quietly closed the hotel room door and pushed the room service cart into the room and uncovered Booth's plate and waited. It only took a few seconds for him to start to stir, Booth rolled over and sat up. "Bones, what is all this? We were gonna stop at that diner we found…" Booth glanced at the clock, "Bones, it's almost 7:30! I can't believe I slept through the alarm!"

Brennan picked up Booth's plate and walked over to the bed and sat down. "Booth, you didn't sleep through the alarm, I turned it off last night after you fell asleep. All of this" Brennan nodded to the plate of pancakes in her hand and the full room service cart. "Is the start of our romantic pre Valentine's Day weekend getaway."

"We both hate Valentine's Day, that's why we go to the range and shoot antique guns…."

"It is true I hate the commercialism of the holiday and enjoy celebrating the day with you in our usual manner. When we agreed to give two days of lectures at the University of Maryland I decided to turn the rest of the week into a getaway for us. We haven't had alone time in quite some time. I miss you."

"I miss you too, Bones." Brennan smiled and handed Booth the plate "Heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream?'

"Yes. It's their week long 'Valentine's Day Breakfast' special. It also comes with bacon, hash browns and eggs…" Brennan moved the tray of food over to the bed and uncovered her own plate of plain heart shaped pancakes. "Eat while I tell you what I have planned for us."

"Okay." Booth dug into the pancakes.

"It isn't what some would call romantic, but given our history of how we normally spend the day I think it fits. I thought we could take a drive up to Sharpsburg, Maryland and see the Civil War battlefields and other historical attractions. Theirs's also winery and distillery tours and a lot of other activities we can do if you don't want to see the Antietam National Battlefeild. They also have a John Wilkes- Booth trail that shows where he went, but we can skip that part…"

"I think it sounds good, Bones As long as I get a lot of quality time with you. "

"You will, I thought we'd drive up today and look around for a while and have an early dinner and head back to our room at the Jacob Rohrbach Inn, it is a bed and breakfast within walking distance of the battlefield and other attractions. Then we can look around more the next day or spend the day in our room, the choice is yours. We have to check out by 11am Sunday."

"This all sounds excellent, Bones. What about the kids? We told Angela we'd get them tonight?"

"She and Hodgins are babysitting until Sunday. In return we have to watch Michael Vincent on Valentine's Day when they go out. Dad will take them Wednesday night so we can go to the range like you'd originally planned. I also cleared your time off with Stark and mine with Cam.

"This is great, Bones, but I'm out of clean clothes…"

"I packed more dress and casual clothes for us, they're in the two extra garment bags I brought along…"

Booth grinned and picked up a slice of bacon. "Here I thought you'd finally over packed for a trip."

"Technically I did but it was planned..."

Booth chuckled lightly and pulled Brennan to him for a kiss, "I love you, Bones."

"I love you too, Booth." An hour later they were on their way to check out of the hotel when Brennan's phone sounded with a text. "It's Angela she wants to know if we have time to FaceTime with Hank, he's having a hard morning."

"Aw, poor little guy!" Booth put down the suitcase he was carrying while Brennan sent a reply and a few seconds later Hank's tearstained face filled the screen of Brennan's phone. "Hi sweetheart!"

"Mommy, home now!"

Brennan smiled, "Not yet, remember I told you and Christine that after Daddy and I got done working I was going to take Daddy somewhere special for a surprise?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Well we're done working and we're on our way to Daddy's surprise. We'll be home in four nighttime sleeps…"

"No! Now! I miss you!" Hank started crying again.

Booth leaned in to get in camera range, "hey, buddy don't cry, it's okay. Mommy and I miss you too. Are you have fun at Aunt Angela's?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's good. It's almost time for you to go to school. Why don't you go let Aunt Angela wash the tears off your face before you go? You can call Mommy tonight when you get home from school."

"K. I want Mommy!"

"I'm here, sweetheart…"

"Mommy, come home!"

"Buddy, I can't for a few days yet. I brought The Very Hungry Caterpillar with me, I'll read it to you tonight when you call before you go to sleep, okay?"

"K."

Brennan smiled at Hank, "Sweetheart, Daddy and I need to go to his surprise now. You can call us tonight before you go to sleep." Hank's tears stopped.

"K."

"I love you, buddy."

"Love you, Mommy."

"Love you, bud."

"Love you, Daddy!"

Angela's face filled Brennan's phone. "Sweetie, he'll be fine."

"I know, I'm really surprised he hasn't had a meltdown like this before now."

"We've been keeping him busy so he doesn't realize you're not here. I'd let you talk to Christine, but she's in a battle with Michael Vincent over the last of the Lucky Charms."

Brennan laughed, "Thanks, Ange."

"You're welcome, Bren. Have fun with Booth." Booth's hand came down to disconnect the call. "Bye Ange."

"Bye…"

Booth picked up the bags again and pulled Brennan close to him. "Hank will be fine, Bones."

"I know. I just miss both of them…"

"Do you want to go home?"

"No, as much as I miss the kids, I miss being alone with you more." Booth gave Brennan a kiss on their way to the lobby to check out. Twenty minutes into the drive Brennan got a picture from Angela of a smiling Hank sitting in his car seat. "Angela says Hank's fine now, they're having spaghetti tonight…"

"He'll love that…" For the remainder of the hour and a half drive Brennan read Booth the lists of activities they had to choose from. Booth pulled up in front of the inn. "Bones, this place is beautiful."

"It is isn't it? When I was looking at places to stay I wanted something close to most of the main attractions. We'll have to take a short ride to some of the restaurants and other things though. I thought this one was nice and all the rooms have their own outside entrances. Parking is around the back."

Booth nodded and pulled around and parked. It was only when they were taken to their room, the rest of Brennan's surprise was revealed, she'd reserved The General's quarters, which were a large cottage behind the inn.

"Wow Bones, this place is incredible!"

"I'm glad you like it, Booth. I thought we'd enjoy the privacy."

"It will be nice." Booth sat down on the bed for a few seconds before he laid down. "Bones, this bed is heaven! We need to find out what brand it is and get one for our bedroom…" Brennan chuckled and picked up the garment bags that were laying on the end of the bed, Booth grabbed her arm before she could pull away and pulled her down on the bed. "BOOTH! I need to put our hanging bags in the closet!"

"Later. Right now I can think of better things to do…"

Brennan laughed and kissed Booth. "Give me five minutes to put our things away then we can go sightsee."

"We can sightsee tomorrow, right now I want to spend some uninterrupted time with you." Brennan managed to wiggle free long enough to throw the garment bags over a chair before Booth pulled her down to him again. A few hours later Brennan looked over at Booth, "Booth, we should go get something for dinner so we can get back here before the children call."

"Let's just call room service, I don't want to get up right now. The bed is comfortable, I'm comfortable, and you're comfortable…"

Brennan sighed, "I am very comfortable and would love to stay in this bed with you for the rest of the evening, however the inn doesn't offer room service. They only serve breakfast at 8:30 in the morning." Booth groaned "The Battleview Market is nearby, they have a deli with all sorts of things to choose from. We can get our food and bring it back here and have a nice quiet dinner, no bargaining over vegetable consumption or keeping Hank from spilling his dinner all over himself and the floor…"

"That sounds nice…"

"Yeah. Let's go change and go."

"Okay."

Forty five minutes later Booth and Brennan sat at the little table in the corner of what used to be the kitchen area of the cottage talking and eating their dinner. "How's your dinner, Booth?"

"It's great, Bones. The hamburger steak almost tastes like what Gran used to make. The mashed potatoes are homemade and the green beans aren't canned. How's your salad?"

"That's good. My salad is good, it's not the best salad I've had, but it isn't the worst either. The greens are fresh…"

"Good. Having dinner alone with you is nice."

"I'm greatly enjoying it also. It's nice to be able to talk without having to spell things out." Booth chuckled softly and forked some green beans.

They finished dinner and moved to the love seat a few minutes before Angela sent Brennan a text. "Angela wants to know if we're ready to FaceTime with the children or if we need a few minutes…"

Booth blushed, "Tell Angela to get her mind out of the gutter and give Christine the phone…"

"Booth, you're blushing, I don't know why though."

Because I don't want Angela to think of us, especially me doing that…"

"We're child free for a week sex is going to be part of the week Angela knows this… She has thought of you like that many times I am sure..."

"Bones, just get Christine on the phone before there is an abrupt halt to the evening." Brennan quickly kissed Booth before calling Angela back, a few seconds later Christine's face filled the phone screen. "Hi Mommy! Hi Daddy!"

"Hello, sweetheart."

"Hi Angel. Did you have a good day at School?"

"Yeah, I had art today we got to paint. I got paint on my shirt."

"It's okay Christine, I'll wash it out when we get home."

"Okay. Daddy, do you like your surprise?"

Booth put his arm around Brennan and pulled her close. "I love my surprise."

"That's good. When are you coming home?"

"We'll be home Sunday afternoon, is that okay?"

"Yeah, Uncle Jack said we can go to the movies on Saturday if Michael Vincent gets a good grade on his math test tomorrow."

"That sounds fun, I hope Michael Vincent does well on his test so you can go to the movies."

"Me too. I got all my spelling words right so I don't have to take the other test on Friday."

"That's great, Sweetheart, we're both proud of you."

"Hank wants to talk to you now…"

"Okay. We'll talk to you tomorrow night."

"K. Love you, Mommy. Love you, Daddy."

"Love you too, Angel."

A few seconds later Angela appeared with Hank in her arms, "Mommy, home now?"

"No not yet, Daddy and I will be home on Sunday, that's four more nighttime sleeps. Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah. We had sketti…" Hank yawned, Brennan smiled at him.

"Did you like it?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's good. I'm going to read you The Very Hungry Caterpillar so you can go to sleep, okay?"

"K." Hank snuggled deeper into Angela's arms. Brennan opened the book and began to read', _"In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf…"_ four pages into the book Angela whispered into the phone, "he's out, Brennan." Brennan closed the book and turned her head toward Booth. "So is Booth."

"Well, we'll talk to you tomorrow night, Bren. Have fun with Booth."

"I will goodnight, Ange."

"Goodnight."

Brennan watched Booth sleep for a few minutes and then she reluctantly woke him up. Brennan hated to do it seeing as he was so relaxed and sleeping hard, but she knew if she let him be the rest of their getaway would be spent with Booth on pain killers. "Booth…. Booth!" Brennan shook his shoulder a bit and he started to stir. "Bones! Can't you see I'm sleeping?"

"I see that and I don't want to wake you, but if you continue to sleep here your back will be misaligned in the morning. I'd rather not spend the rest of our trip with you in pain. Come on, we'll go back to that heavenly bed you didn't want to leave two hours ago."

"Fine!" Booth got up, but didn't let go of Brennan's hand. Once they were in bed Booth turned to face Brennan. "Bones, this has been a pretty awesome first day of vacation."

"Really? We haven't done anything I had planned…"

"That's true, but the things we did this afternoon were awesome!"

Brennan chuckled, "yes, they were I enjoyed them very much."

"What do you say we continue where we left off? It's too early for us to go to bed…"

"I'd like that very much…."

The next morning Booth groaned when the alarm went off. "Bones, it's too early to be up!"

"Booth it's 7 o'clock, a full hour later than you'd get up if we were going to work."

"Yeah, but usually you don't keep me up half the night…"

Brennan grinned, "I didn't hear you complain last night. Breakfast is only served until 10 so we need to get up and get ready for the day. Unless you'd rather sleep in and go somewhere else later."

"No, I'm up."

Brennan kissed him before getting up and heading to the bathroom. Booth got up and pulled the curtains aside only to discover it was raining. Sighing he slipped into yesterday's clothes and ran out to the SUV to get the umbrella for their short walk to breakfast. Brennan frowned when she saw that it was raining a little while later when she walked in to the room. "It's raining, that's going to impede our sightseeing. There are museums and things we could go see indoors of course."

Booth looked up, "Bones, it's fine. All of the attractions sound interesting and I'd like to see them, but to be honest I really just want to spend the day here with you talking and hanging out. We can see the sites tomorrow or the next day or we can go out later if the rain lets up. The room has a DVD player and a lot of Civil War documentaries we could watch later or we can rent a movie."

"We can do that. It actually sounds nice."

"It does. I'm going to go change then we can get breakfast."

"Okay." Once Booth was ready they quickly made their way to the main house for a breakfast that featured fruit, juice, pastries, sausage, eggs, and/or banana stuffed French toast. By the time Booth and Brennan were done with their food the rain had really started to come down. "I should've grabbed the ponchos too."

"Perhaps. Hopefully if we walk quickly we won't get too soaked." Booth nodded and followed Brennan into the lobby. Once they were back in the cottage, Brennan turned to Booth, "I'm going to go change my shirt, it got wet and now I'm cold."

"Okay Bones."

A few minutes later Brennan was back and she quietly put a box out of Booth's sight beside the loveseat and sat down, wrapping a spare blanket around herself. Booth turned from looking through the DVD collection and smiled a little. "Nice shirt, Bones." Brennan looked down at the ratty FBI sweatshirt she'd taken from the bag of clothes she'd packed for Booth.

"It's really warm and soft…"

"That's because it's been washed a thousand times…" Booth walked to the loveseat and sat down. "What do want to do, Bones?"

"Let's just sit and talk, but first you need to open your valentine's day present." Brennan plopped the box on Booth's lap.

"Aw Bones thanks. Your present is at home, if I'd known we were going on an early valentine's getaway I'd brought it with me."

"That's fine, Booth. I was going to wait until we got back to give you yours, but I can't wait that long…"

Booth chuckled softly and leaned over to kiss Brennan's cheek, then he tore off the sparkly silver and red paper. He took the lid off the box and stared at the photo album. "Bones?"

"When I was cleaning out our closet I found that box of your Grandparents photos. I wanted to do something to protect them, rather than leave them in the box. I asked Angela for advice on preserving them so they wouldn't be damaged farther. She helped me put the album together. We tried to put them in order as best we could, some of the photos weren't dated."

Booth ran his hand over the thick leather volume and looked at Brennan. "Thanks Bones. Gram took a lot of pictures, but she never had the time or was willing to spend the money to put them in albums. What little extra money she and Pops had at the end of the month went into savings or to get Jared and me a treat. When we cleaned out Pops' room at the retirement home and brought the box home I stuck it in the closet because I couldn't look at it then…"

"You're not upset that I put them in an album for you, are you?"

"No! No, of course not, Bones. I love it. I'm glad that you and Angela made the album for me." Booth opened the album and smiled at Pops' Marine Corps photo.

"Hank was a handsome young man. I see a lot of him in you. The Booth genetic markers are strong."

"Yeah." Booth turned the page to see Pops and Gran's wedding photo. "I can't believe if they were still here they'd be married 70 years on March 12th of this year."

"They look very happy. Your Grandmother was beautiful."

"She was. I don't remember them ever arguing. I'm sure they did, but they never let me and Jared see it. Do you think we'll be married for 70 years, Bones?"

"We'll both be over 100 by then. I can't say for sure that we'll both be here, given the things we've been through. I can promise that we'll be together for as long as we can be."

Booth pulled Brennan close and kissed her, "me too, Bones." Brennan snuggled closer to Booth and listened him tell her stories about his Grandparents, parents, and his life growing up. Most of the stories she never heard, Booth never talked about his childhood. It was midafternoon when Booth put the album aside and looked up, "The rain has let up a little."

"That's good. I want to go out for dinner tonight. There's place not far from here that offers vegetarian and meat dishes."

"Sounds good to me, Bones. I'm going to go back to that deli and get something for lunch. Do you want to come with me or do you want me to get it and bring it back here?"

"Can you just get it and bring it back?"

"Sure anything you want?"

"Just a salad and coffee."

"Okay, I'll be back in a bit."

A half hour later Booth was back. "They had tomato soup today, so I got us both that plus a grilled cheese for me and a grilled veggie sandwich for you."

"Thanks Booth."

A few hours later Booth and Brennan were finishing their dinner at the Blue Moon Café.

"That was a really good turkey burger, Bones. It wasn't dry and bland."

"My eggplant dish was very good too."

"I'm going to run to the restroom before we head out." Brennan nodded. While Booth was in the restroom Brennan checked her phone. "Tempe?"

Brennan looked up to see Michael Stires standing next to the table. "Michael? What are you doing here?"

"I was just getting some dinner. I live nearby and I'm still not much of a cook. A man cannot live by the frittata alone…"

"You live nearby now? I thought you were an expert witness…"

"That didn't go too well, turns out I'm not good at testifying. Another thing you excel at. Now I teach Introduction to Archaeology, Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, and Cultural Anthropology to undergrads who want a minor in Anthropology at Shepherd University."

"Isn't that a step down for someone with your academic record?"

"Yes, but when you have a relationship with a student and they aren't discreet…. You take what you can get…"

"I see…"

"Yeah. I see you're still the world's best Forensic Anthropologist and bestselling author. While you're here you should come guest lecture my classes, they'd love it. Do you want to get a drink? I know a place not far from here."

"Actually-"

"Bones, you ready to go?"

"Yes." Michael looked up to see Booth walking toward him. Brennan stood up and grabbed her jacket, that's when Michael noticed her wedding ring. "You're married, Tempe? You told me you'd never do that…"

"People change, Michael. Booth and I have been married for four years. We have two small children and I have a stepson… We're here on a getaway actually…" Brennan shrugged her jacket on and walked past Michael and grabbed Booth's hand and squeezed it.

"It was nice to see you again, Michael." Booth put his arm around Brennan and pulled her close.

"Yeah, you too, Tempe." Michael was slightly irritated when Booth leaned in and kissed Brennan as they walked away.

"Did the Nutty Professor ask you out, Bones?"

"Yes. He also asked me to guest lecture his undergrad classes while I'm here…"

"No work, Bones."

"Don't worry, Booth I'm not going to do it. I wouldn't even if we weren't on vacation. Michael doesn't know when to quit or take 'no' for an answer…"

"Good. I never liked him, he's too condescending."

Brennan laughed, "He's very condescending, I see that now, but when I was younger I thought he was perfect."

Booth chuckled slightly and kissed Brennan, it' okay, Bones."

The next day was bright so after breakfast Booth and Brennan headed to see the historical sites. The first stop was the Antietam National Battle Field then Brennan insisted they go to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Pry House field Hospital Museum, Booth though it was cool, but it grossed him out at times. They also visited John Brown's house. The day after that they visited a few more historical sites and had a wine tasting at one of the local wineries. Sunday morning they slept through the 8:30 breakfast and were charged an additional five dollars for checking out at 12:30pm instead of 11am. After checking out and grabbing a quick lunch at the deli they headed to Angela and Hodgins' to pick up Christine and Hank.

"Booth, did you enjoy our getaway?"

"Yeah, it was really relaxing. My favorite day was Thursday when we spent the whole day in our room talking about Pops and Gran while we looked at their pictures. A lot of the things in the pictures I'd forgotten about. Dinner that night was great, except when we ran into your nutty professor, what we did afterwards more than made up for it though… The historical stuff was cool too. We'll have to come back when the kids are older. Did you enjoy our getaway, Bones?"

"Yes, very much. It was nice to spend four days with you and not have to work. And as much as I love the kids it was nice to have a break from them…"

"Bones, it's normal to feel that way. Sometimes when Parker was their age, I'd count down the minutes until Rebeca picked him up. Little kids are balls of energy. What do you say we go away again in a few months? We don't have to do something as big as this week, I'd be happy if we just get a hotel suite downtown and locked ourselves inside for the weekend."

Brennan smiled, "I'd like that too, Booth. Very much."

"All right, we'll do it in a month or two."

"Okay."

A little over an hour later Angela let them inside.

"Hey Brennan, You and Booth look really happy and well rested. How was it?"

"We are very happy and well rested, Ange. The trip was fantastic. How were Christine and Hank?"

"They were great. We didn't have any more meltdowns after we called you Wednesday morning. We were going to go to the indoor playground today, but Hank refused to get dressed this morning. He's still in his pajamas watching a movie with Hodgins, Christine, and Michael Vincent." Brennan smiled and she and Booth followed Angela to the living room. Hank was the first to notice Brennan. "Mommy!" He awkwardly climbed off Hodgins' lap and ran to Brennan, she picked him up. "Go home now?" Brennan smiled and kissed him.

"Yes, but first let's change your clothes so, we can go to the diner."

"No."

"You can have chocolate chip pancakes…"

"No."

Christine was in Booth's arms, having forgotten all about the movie. "I missed you so much, Daddy. Mommy too."

"Mommy and I missed you so much too, Christine." Brennan leaned over and kissed Christine. "Hi sweetheart." With a little help from Angela, Booth and Brennan switched kids. After a few minutes Christine wanted down and Hank was back in Brennan's arms, where she tried again to get him to change into clothes.

"Go home, Mommy."

"Bones, I can make him chocolate chip pancakes at home."

"Okay. Let's put your socks and shoes on then we can go home."

"No!"

"Buddy, you need to put your socks on, it's cold outside."

"K." Hank let Brennan put his socks on his feet.

Forty minutes later they were home and eating chocolate chip pancakes and sausage.

Booth looked at Brennan across the table. "This weekend was great, but this moment is the best."

"I concur." Brennan smiled at Booth as she cut up another pancake for Hank.

A/N2: There you have it. I hope you like it. I admit I struggled with this one a little bit, but thanks to some twitter pals I got it straightened out. The inn that Booth and Brennan stayed at is really across from the Antietam National Battlefield… if you want to see the inn and the cottage just Goggle 'Jacob Rohrbach Inn' once there if you click the room tab, the generals quarters is the first room and you can look through the photos. The restaurants they ate at are real, and you can actually order what they ate too. You can click the area tab on the inn's website then attractions map to see everything they did. Ralph Waite (Pops) also served in the Marine Corps. Very Hungry Caterpillar was written by Eric Carle. Booth refers to Michael Stirs as 'The Nutty Professor' in "The Girl in the Fridge from season 1 when he corrects Brennan's findings…


End file.
